Go. Fold. Kill Coronavirus. Join the Homecoming Folding@home Team Today!

[Jimmy]

Hello everyone!

 

Unless you’ve been stuck in the Shadow Shard, I’m sure you’re aware of the Coronavirus pandemic that the world is now facing. In an effort to contribute towards researching the virus, we’ve set up a Folding@home team for the City of Heroes community.

 

Note: If you see “Bad Gateway” it’s because the Folding@home website is receiving an enormous amount of traffic right now - you’ll need to try again later.

 

By contributing to the team you will not only be helping conduct mad science to help combat Coronavirus, but you’ll also be in for the chance of winning some in-game prizes!

 

What is Folding@home?
From their website:

Quote

Folding@home (FAH or F@h) is a distributed computing project for simulating protein dynamics, including the process of protein folding and the movements of proteins implicated in a variety of diseases. It brings together citizen scientists who volunteer to run simulations of protein dynamics on their personal computers. Insights from this data are helping scientists to better understand biology, and providing new opportunities for developing therapeutics.

Visit the Folding@home website for more information!

 

Note: While a large amount of the research currently being conducted by Folding@home is focused on Coronavirus, it does also handle other types of (equally valuable) medical research. Don’t worry if your PC is tasked with a non-Coronavirus work unit - it will still count towards prize eligibility.

 

How do I get started?

1. Download the Folding@home client here and install it
2. Open the web control panel
3. Select "Set up an identity"
   • 
4. If you don't get this pop-up, click "Change Identity"
   • 
5. Set your username to "HC_YourGlobalHandle"
   • This is your in-game global chat handle (generally seen with an @ sign in front of it)
   • Please replace any spaces in your global handle with additional underscores (eg: @Home Folder would become HC_Home_Folder)
   • It is very important that you set up your username correctly or we will not be able to track your contributions and award you your prizes!
6. Join team 243287
7. Optional: We recommend you set up a passkey, but it's not necessary
   • Get a Passkey here
   • Passkey FAQ
8. Hit save
   • 
9. Start folding!

 

What’s this about prizes? (Updated March 23rd with more prizes!)
By setting your username to your global handle and joining the team, we’re able to track your contributions and you will become eligible to receive in-game prizes each month!

• The top 10 contributors to the team each month will receive 500 Reward Merits and a permanent costume power of their choice
  • The #1 contributor each month will receive an additional 500 Reward Merits
  • The #2 and #3 contributors each month will receive an additional 250 Reward Merits
• 10 randomly chosen contributors with at least 5 Work Units complete (outside the top 10) each month will receive 500 Reward Merits and a permanent costume power of their choice
• 10 randomly-chosen contributors with at least 1 Work Unit complete (outside the top 10) each month will receive 500 Reward Merits and a permanent costume power of their choice

 

Please note:

• If your Folding@home username is not HC_YourGlobalHandle, we will not be able to verify your contributions and your prize will go to the next highest contributor.
• The wonderful @GM Miss will be in contact with you to distribute prizes each month. Be on the lookout for a message or friend request from her at the beginning of each month if you win!
• These prizes will be awarded at the end of every month (including March) based on the stats from the entire month.
• We will be running these prize giveaways for at least the next 6 months.
• While Homecoming staff are contributing to the team, we obviously will not be eligible for prizes.

 

If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the thread! We've also opened up two new channels on our Discord:

• #folding-at-home can be used to discuss these efforts and to help you get set up with contributing
• #coronavirus can be used to discuss ongoing pandemic and any coping with any isolation or quarantine that you may be going through
• #folding-stats-and-info has a slightly-more-up-to-date leaderboard of the current top 30 contributors to the team (as the official stats site is still struggling) and instructions on using the @HCFoldBot Discord bot

 

- The Homecoming Team

[Felis Noctu]

I've added the team to my account, but what do people like myself do who have global names that contain a space? For instance, mine is @Felis Noctu, and F@H doesn't allow spaces in the username.

 

EDIT

Posting this here for others:

Edited March 19, 2020 by Felis Noctu

[Cipher]

6 minutes ago, Felis Noctu said:

I've added the team to my account, but what do people like myself do who have global names that contain a space? For instance, mine is @Felis Noctu, and F@H doesn't allow spaces in the username.

 

2 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Please replace any spaces in your global handle with additional underscores (eg: @Home Folder would become HC_Home_Folder)

 

🙂

 

[Felis Noctu]

I COMPLETELY missed that the first time I read it. I got clarification from Faultline as well. Thank you! 😛

[Icybubba]

Inject it into my veins........

[Yoru-hime]

This thread title was a bright spot in what's otherwise been a really rotten week. Count me in.

[LT. Couper]

Happy to help! =D

[Klipster]

I am trying, but I keep getting this error in my logs. 21:41:32:ERROR:Receive error: 10053: An established connection was aborted by the software in your host machine.

 

Any tips?

[Abraxus]

As someone in the Discord discussion mentioned, for those that have never done a Distributed Computing project before, this thing is designed to use ALL of the available computing power your system can deliver.  That is going to me the CPU, and possible the GPU will be running at high utilization (read: higher than normal temps), while the program is engaged.  So, blow the dust out of those nasty rigs, so that things don't overheat unnecessarily!

[Felis Noctu]

2 minutes ago, Klipster said:

I am trying, but I keep getting this error in my logs. 21:41:32:ERROR:Receive error: 10053: An established connection was aborted by the software in your host machine.

 

Any tips?

That's normal. It's aborting idle connections that aren't providing a work thread. It may take a bit for it to actually pick work up for your system, because they've had such an increase in the amount of people volunteering their assignment servers are having a hard time keeping up with the demand. Check back on it in like half an hour, it'll probably have snagged something by then.

[GM Miss]

Hey that's me! Ill be in touch y'all! 😄

[Ukase]

I think this is a great idea, and nice of you to offer the incentive. You may already plan on it - but I am positive, just like in the old days, there might be 10% of the user base that visits the forums occasionally. And maybe 10% of those would see this opportunity. Perhaps make it part of the MotD? 

[Nex]

Love it, switching my team-affiliation to Homecoming. 🙂

[Greycat]

Something learned: My notebook, at half and across the room, is louder doing this than my desktop two feet from me...

[Felis Noctu]

F@H Registration Issues
If you're having problems with the web client after installation and you use Windows, you can use the desktop client to register as well:

1. After installation, go to your tray and right-click on the icon, then click on Advanced Control
2. Click on Configure in the top left
3. Select the Identity tab

Unfortunately I have no experience with Folding@Home on a Mac, but I would assume that they also have their own desktop client in some form.

 

Also: When requesting your Passkey the email may take a few minutes to arrive. Don't worry, they'll get it to you!

TIP: You don't need the passkey to start folding work, just to gain bonus points and sync up multiple computers.

 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2020 by Felis Noctu
Adding mac note and formatting

[Jimmy]

For those asking about the costume powers, these are the options you'll be able to pick from:

 

[GM Miss]

18 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

For those asking about the costume powers, these are the options you'll be able to pick from:

 

Here is a list, there are a few more on this list than the images above marked with *

 

Images of each: https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Model_Replacement_Costume_Powers

 

Carnival Harlequin Costume Power (Permanent)
Banished Pantheon Shaman Costume Power (Permanent)
Crey Agent Costume Power (Permanent)
*Coralax Boss Costume Power (Permanent)
Consortium Guard Costume Power (Permanent)
Praetorian Clockwork Costume Power (Permanent)
Coralax Minion Costume Power (Permanent)
Council Penumbra Costume Power (Permanent)
Crey Powersuit Costume Power (Permanent)
Carnival Strongman Costume Power (Permanent)
Freakshow Boss Costume Power (Permanent)
Freakshow Stunner Costume Power (Permanent)
Council Galaxy Costume Power (Permanent)
Goldbricker Costume Power (Permanent)
*Ghoul Costume Power (Permanent)
Hellion Thug Costume Power (Permanent)
Knives of Artemis Costume Power (Permanent)
Legacy Chain Costume Power (Permanent)
Lost Costume Power (Permanent)
IDF Mk-VI "Victoria" Costume Power (Permanent)
Malta Gunslinger Costume Power (Permanent)
Malta Operative Costume Power (Permanent)
Nemesis Soldier Costume Power (Permanent)
IDF Olympian Guard Costume Power (Permanent)
Outcast Thug Costume Power (Permanent)
*Paragon Police Cop Costume Power (Permanent)
PPD Hardsuit Costume Power (Permanent)
Pirate Costume Power (Permanent)
Paragon Protector Costume Power (Permanent)
Praetorian Police Costume Power (Permanent)
IDF Ranger Costume Power (Permanent)
*Riptide Costume Power (Permanent)
Rikti Mentalist Costume Power (Permanent)
*Ring Mistress Costume Power (Permanent)
Rulu-Shin Costume Power (Permanent)
Crey Security Guard Costume Power (Permanent)
Skulls Costume Power (Permanent)
SWAT Officer Costume Power (Permanent)
Skyraiders Costume Power (Permanent)
Scrapyarder Costume Power (Permanent)
Tsoo Inkman Costume Power (Permanent)
Troll Costume Power (Permanent)
Talons of Vengeance Costume Power (Permanent)
*Vahzilok Buzzsaw Costume Power (Permanent)
Vahzilok Eidolon Costume Power (Permanent)
Warrior Thug Costume Power (Permanent)

Edited March 19, 2020 by GM Miss

[Six-Six]

Hi. I signed up. 😃

How do I change the setting to Fold only when idle? I have an ancient computer, sorry.

 

[Felis Noctu]

Just now, Six Six said:

Hi. I signed up. 😃

How do I change the setting to Fold only when idle? I have an ancient computer, sorry.

 

Right click on the F@H icon and select the On Idle option:

[Six-Six]

I'm on a mac. I don't see that menu.

Ah, I found it. 😃

Thanks

 

Also, does it keep working when I quit the app? or do I need to fire it up for it to work?

 

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by Six Six

[Felis Noctu]

1 minute ago, Six Six said:

I'm on a mac. I don't see that menu

 

Ahhh. In which case, you want to open the web interface (if you aren't sure how to do that, you should be able to manually go to client.foldingathome.com, though it may not work 100% correctly), and change your "When" to "Only when idle":

[Snowdaze]

This is my first time using the Folding@home client, I've done similar group processing in the past with Boinc. Well I understand the "ease of use" that folding@home provides, Rosetta@home using the Boinc client is basically the same thing and provides a greater ability to control how the program uses your computer. Long story short, after analyzing the level of power Folding@home uses, some people's older processors may suffer negative effects buy running at 100% for extended periods of time since since folding at home does not allow you to set a processor usage limit.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Snowdaze

[Buckets]

Glad to see lots of people getting to fold!
Thank you all

[the_visviva]

6 hours ago, Jimmy said:

 

Awesome. I was involved with this for a while already. I am now HC_Vis_Viva and on the team. It's a way to make a difference as a mele character even though I'm staying 6' away from everyone.

[JayboH]

Does the 'I support research fighting' option do anything?

 

Also, I haven't done one of these in a long time, this or the SETI@Home in ages.  This is cooking my water-cooled via AIO chip to hit a high of 94°C for a brief second on medium 'while I'm working.'  Wonder if the electric bill will increase a bunch.

 

EDIT:  does this use avx instructions?  do offsets affect it?

Edited March 20, 2020 by JayboH